A Pilot Evaluation of a Digital Peer Support Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents
Overview
- Phase
- N/A
- Intervention
- Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers (SWEEP)
- Conditions
- Suicide
- Sponsor
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- Enrollment
- 46
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Suicidal Thoughts
- Status
- Recruiting
- Last Updated
- 17 days ago
Overview
Brief Summary
Suicide risk has increased among youth in underserved communities, where access to mental healthcare is limited. To address this need, the investigator team plans to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of a brief, low-cost, culturally responsive digital intervention for ethnically diverse youth at risk for suicide in The Bronx, New York. In collaboration with community stakeholders, suicide recovery narratives, featuring adolescents' experiences related to recovery from suicidal thoughts will be developed. A smartphone ecological momentary assessment (EMA) app will be used to evaluate whether a curriculum of these narratives provides anti-suicidal benefits to at-risk adolescents.
Detailed Description
This is a single-arm investigation of a novel suicide prevention intervention, called "Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers" (SWEEP). In a preliminary phase (Phase 1) of the study, suicide recovery narratives: short first-person stories about lived experience with and recovery from Bronx Adolescents will be collected. The investigator team will then evaluate evaluate the anti-suicidal benefits of this intervention in a single-arm trial. In a subsequent phase (Phase 2), adolescent participants (n=46) will be provided with the SWEEP intervention, which involves reading or listening to one suicide recovery narrative each day during the 14-day trial. Six of the 46 participants will be adolescents, with recent suicidal thoughts or depression, who are currently receiving mental healthcare in Montefiore's Outpatient Psychiatry Department, rather than those on the waitlist to receive these services. All six participants will then complete a post-intervention qualitative interview to inform potential changes to intervention procedures. During this second phase, suicide recovery narratives will be provided, in audio and text formats, via a smartphone app. That same smartphone app will also collect real-time (ecological momentary) assessments of suicidal thoughts, as well as secondary and additional outcomes, five times per day. The investigator team will evaluate whether participants experience reductions in the intensity of suicidal thoughts over the course of the 14-day trial. During Phase 3, participants will be recruited to a control condition (n=15) and a treatment condition (n=30). Those in the Phase 3 treatment condition will receive the same intervention (1 SWEEP narrative per day for 14 days + 3x/day EMA) as those in Phase 2. Those in the Control condition will receive 3x/day EMA only.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •past-month history of suicidal thoughts
- •past-month history of Major depressive disorder
- •possession of apple or android smartphone with data plan
Exclusion Criteria
- •inability to read/write in English
- •Active mania
- •Active psychosis
- •Autism spectrum disorder
Arms & Interventions
Intervention
This is a single-arm study. All participants will be allocated to the intervention arm, in which they will receive the digital narrative therapy.
Intervention: Supporting Wellbeing with Everyday Experiences of Peers (SWEEP)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Suicidal Thoughts
Time Frame: 5 times per day during 14-day trial
Participants will self-report their current subjective intensity of suicidal thoughts using an 11-point Likert-type scale, with higher scores indicating more intense suicidal thoughts.
Secondary Outcomes
- Suicidal Urge Resistance(5 times per day during 14-day trial)
- Optimism(5 times per day during 14-day trial)
- Social Support(5 times per day during 14-day trial)
- Intervention Acceptability(Study conclusion (at the end of the 14-day trial))
- Social Connectedness(5 times per day during 14-day trial)